Mathias Keller

Background

Mathias Keller was born on March 20, 1813 in Ulm, Württemberg, Germany.

Education

Keller began his education in music in Stuttgart and continued at Vienna.

Career

At the age of sixteen Keller was the first violinist in the Royal Chapel, where he was engaged for five years, and then he became bandmaster of the Third Royal Brigade, leading it for seven years. In time he became somewhat unpopular with the officers of the army, because of his republicanism, and on his thirty-third birthday he started for America.

Through the help of a friend in Philadelphia, he obtained a position in the Walnut Street Theatre as a player of the viol, and later at the Chestnut Street Theatre be became leader for Jean Davenport. Before leaving Germany he had become interested in the making of violins by watching the process carried on by some of his neighbors, and in Philadelphia he procured from an old building that was being demolished some old and well-seasoned lumber from which he fashioned an instrument alone. Later he secured an assistant, and in 1857 he advertised his factory as "Keller's Patent Steam Violin Manufactory. "

From Philadelphia he moved to New York where he saw the announcement of a prize of five hundred dollars for an American hymn, and he determined to try for it. His contribution won the prize. Both the words and the music were his composition, and the hymn is perhaps best recalled by its first line, "Speed our republic, O Father on high. " His effort to introduce it to the people in a grand public concert resulted in failure, and almost financial ruin, for the expenses were six hundred dollars, and the total receipts only forty-two dollars. In Boston the music was played by the bands, and when the flags that had been carried through the Civil War were deposited in the State House in 1865 this tune was played by Gilmore's band at the special request of Governor Andrew.

At the beginning of the Civil War Keller set to music and dedicated to the Massachusetts regiments a song written by W. W. Story, beginning "Up with the flag of the Stripes and the Stars. " At the close of the war he wrote "Our Banner's Constellation. " At the Peace Jubilee given in Boston in 1869 "The Hymn of Peace, " written by Oliver Wendell Holmes, was sung to the music of Keller's American Hymn on the first day. At the Second Peace Jubilee in 1872 one of Keller's compositions, his "German Union Hymn, " was sung on the third day of the festival under the direction of its author. A comment by a newspaper of that day characterized it as an effective composition, "constructed on the true model of a national hymn, being broad, simple and imposing. " He wrote the music for a Christmas carol in 1869. His "Ravel Polka" was composed during his voyage to America when he met a family by the name of Ravel on the boat. For many of his songs he wrote the words as well as the music and in 1874 he published many of his verses in A Collection of Poems.

Achievements

• Mathias Keller has been listed as a noteworthy composer by Marquis Who's Who.

Works

More photos

• book

  • A Collection of Poems (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from A Collection of Poems I 'm chatting with ki...)

Connections

Keller was married. After the death of his wife he lived with a married daughter in Boston.